


Swan Song

by fireweed15



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Character Death, Community: hc_bingo, Cursed, Curses, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26693956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireweed15/pseuds/fireweed15
Summary: Such skill should not go unappreciated, even in death.
Kudos: 1





	Swan Song

Healing magic was warm and vibrant. This magic that wrapped around her like tendrils was… different. It thrummed with dark energy, with _power_.

Lola's eyes opened, and she pushed herself up from the stone floor. Dust motes hung in the air, which was hauntingly still after…

She looked down at herself. Her armor was a lost cause, blistered and cracked around the gaping hole blasted in it. Her tunic was intact, but the edges of scars peeked up out of the neckline. _Radiant damage_ —the kind that had—

Sandals—elegant, extravagant displays of wealth even after time immemorial in this tomb—appeared in her line of vision. Lola's gaze travelled up until she found herself looking at the withered face of the mummy bride Mazaliztli. _How strange._ In life she had been trying to slay her, and now that she was within arm's reach, she felt no desire to reach for her rapier or to cast a spell.

Mazaliztli gestured, and Lola rose to her feet, hands limp at her sides. The mummy bride took her chin between her thumb and forefinger, turning the drow's head to the sides as if she were an animal she was considering purchasing. In life (already it felt so long ago), Lola would have been pissed; now she simply allowed herself to be examined.

When Mazaliztli's words came, they weren't spoken aloud, but simply appeared in Lola's thoughts in Gnomish, the language of her childhood. _Dear child… I feel such sorrow for you._

Lola's head canted to the side as if she were a curious child. The reply came in the same manner— _Your journey here was in vain. None could defeat me, and none will ever defeat me._

Mazaliztli turned, lifting a hand and gesturing in a way that Lola instinctively knew meant she was to follow. She walked as a well trained pet behind her, her gaze falling on the scene—it was hard to believe that a battle had taken place here. The guards were back in their alcoves, obsidian weapons freshly stained with blood and clutched in their hands as they rested in their alcoves.

As they approached the raised dais on which Mazaliztli's tomb sat, Lola saw her companions, Gideon and Carthe. Both were broken and bloodied from their own battles; nonetheless they had been reanimated in the same manner as Lola, hands on their weapons as if they would spring into action at any moment, and stood positioned at either end of the sarcophagus as honor guards. Mazaliztli ascended the dais and lifted a hand toward Gideon, wordlessly calling her serpent staff to her. The constrictor slithered from its perch around Gideon's neck and shoulders and into its mistress' hand, assuming its wooden form once more.

Mazaliztli turned her attention back to Lola, pointing to the step of the dais. _Sit,_ she commanded. _Your lyre?_

Lola settled on the step and opened her pack, drawing the instrument out and holding it in her lap. _Good. Play._

The last vestiges of Lola as she had been in life—spirited and bubbly and quick to buck authority—faded as she lifted her hands to the strings began to play. Memories of her adventures grew hazier with every note. This was her purpose now, her place—to provide music for her mistress Mazaliztli.

Surely an eternity of unlife wasn't so long.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [The Jungle Tomb of the Mummy Bride by Planet X Games](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/259238/Jungle-Tomb-of-the-Mummy-Bride), and shout out to my DM for such a great adventure! 
> 
> Everybody pour one out for my poor Drow bard who died in the line of duty. She was the last one to fall, though, so there's something to be said there I think?


End file.
